Wind Resource Study for US Army at Kwajalein Atoll; Marshall Islands; NREL Tracking No. 14-005 Award Number: DE-AC36-08GO28308 CX(s) Applied: A9, B3.1 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Date: 04/09/14 Location(s): CO Office(s): Golden...
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February 26, 2016
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Wind Resource Study for US Army at Kwajalein Atoll; Marshall Islands; NREL Tracking No. 14-005
Award Number: DE-AC36-08GO28308
CX(s) Applied: A9, B3.1
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Date: 04/09/2014
Location(s): CO
Office(s): Golden Field Office
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) proposes a project in support of United States Department of Army (U.S. Army) for a wind energy resource assessment at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) installation in the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), approximately 2,100 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. The U.S. leases eleven islands from the RMI government for radar, optics, telemetry, and communications equipment that provide instrumentation for ballistic missile and missile interceptor testing as well as space operations support.
The proposed project would include the installation and operation of a meteorological (met) tower at the USAKA facility on Carlos Island within the Kwajalein Atoll at approximately 8.8000 deg. latitude and 167.6139 deg. longitude. The proposed met tower site is an existing cleared space adjacent to other existing U.S. Army antennas, towers, and other infrastructure. Maps depicting the proposed met tower location are uploaded to the PMC database. Data collected from the met tower would be used by NREL to develop a feasibility study on the wind energy potential at the U.S. Army installation. The met tower would be delivered by boat, and then transported by pickup truck to the proposed site. Transportation would be along existing boating lanes, use existing docks, and existing roads on the island. The tilt-up tower would be assembled on the ground, and would be then raised using a gin pole and hydraulic winch. The tower would be 60 meters (198 feet) high and would include sensors and data loggers. The tower would be supported by a 4’ x 4’ steel base plate, and would be supported by 12 guy wires anchored to buried dead-man type concrete blocks. If it is not possible to attach the winch to a backhoe or other heavy equipment already on the island, an additional concrete anchor of similar size for the winch may be installed. The tower would be self-powered and include satellite communication and no trenching for utilities would occur.